


Razor Sharp

by AcidAngel21



Series: Winter Obi-Wan [2]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Awkward Conversations, CT-7567 | Rex Needs a Hug, Force-Sensitive CT-7565 | Rex, Force-Sensitive Padmé Amidala, Gen, Hurt Anakin Skywalker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29479857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AcidAngel21/pseuds/AcidAngel21
Summary: Padmé and Rex talk while the Abiik-Kemirs try to recover
Relationships: Padmé Amidala & CT-7567 | Rex
Series: Winter Obi-Wan [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593982
Kudos: 11





	Razor Sharp

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second part of the Winter Obi-Wan series, set between The Apprentice and Teach Me

The thing about the Abiik-Kemirs was that even as broken as they were at the moment, they had teeth and claws that cut into everything. Especially broken the way they were. Padmé had been aware that weren’t exactly harmless, even before Geonosis. But to look at them now, none of the velvet that’d covered those talons was anywhere to be seen. Even Rex seemed unnerved by how sharp they all were, at least half an eye on them whenever any of them moved.

Silas was the weirdest one, though. He was, ostensibly, almost completely defenseless. He’d been in a coma, had major injuries even before that, and had been delirious on what Ejasa had called overload for the better part of a day. It wasn’t that he was at all intimidating in the state he was in, it was more that suddenly, Padmé could feel the full weight of his attention. It looked like it was the same for everyone whenever she visited. For Ejasa it seemed like business as usual. For Ben, he wouldn’t look at Silas for very long and always seemed to be consciously holding stiller than usual when Silas was paying attention to him. For Rex, it was like he almost took it as a challenge, a test that he had to measure up to. For Padmé it was like she could _feel_ him paying attention, like there was a physical weight to having him focus on her and what she was saying.

At some point he’d apologized. “I can’t shield the right way right now. Even trying to hurts; so I’m kind of stuck this way for a while until my connection with the Force settles down. I’m sorry, I know it’s uncomfortable. You don’t have to keep coming around here until I can reign it in; I’m sure the others can talk to you somewhere else. A medcenter room isn’t exactly a great view.” His voice had been light, but she could feel his genuine embarrassment at how little control he had at the moment.

Needless to say, she hadn’t gone anywhere else, and they’d continued to congregate in his room while he was recovering. The only other person around at the moment was Rex, and Padmé wasn’t sure how to talk to him. All the other times she’d come by, either Ben or Ejasa or both had been around, Silas had been awake, or all three had already been talking to him. She realized with a start that this was the first time she’d been alone (or, well, Silas hadn’t been awake) with him.

He was reading his way through a datapad, eyes flicking around the room checking everything in the same window-door-other door-Padmé-vital display-Silas pattern every minute or so. It seemed almost as unconscious as breathing, but she still felt like she was under the same kind of gravitas as when Silas was paying attention to her. She kept herself in a position that was deliberately as relaxed as possible and scrolled through her own datapad.

“What’s the point, Senator?”

Padmé’s eyes were back over on Rex in a heartbeat. He looked like he couldn’t believe he’d had the gall to ask the question, but he wasn’t backing down. He looked right at her, shoulders squared, and asked again.

“What’s the point of it all? What do you think this war is going to do? Because the longnecks had a lot to say about why it was all important, but I haven’t heard you say anything about it. Nothing but those answers you give when you’re trying not to answer the question.” His attention had the same cutting edge as the rest of them, that sense of _danger_ , someone or something watching from behind his eyes that wasn’t just him.

Padmé had been a Queen, she was now a Senator. She did not crack to feelings like that, real or imaginary.

“It is a failure to listen on behalf of the Republic. A failure to understand what was important. It’s something that turned into a conflict of ideas and beliefs that should’ve been upheld, but weren’t in the eyes of the Separatists. The point is the soul of the galaxy, Captain.” And how badly the Republic was failing that soul. The evidence was sitting right in front of her asking what the point was. It made her entire chest feel hollow, knowing how pale a reason that must seem for what was being done.

And what was being done was _wrong_ , no matter what Palpatine or the Order had to say.

“If I can be blunt, that’s a hell of a reason with what happened here, Senator Amidala.”

He was checking the room again and she could see the bitter, rusted edges peeking out from behind his eyes. She looked at Silas, still completely wiped out and sleeping more often than not. She could see Ejasa’s frame in her mind’s eye, still too thin and putting on weight far too slowly. She could feel the haunted, broken air that Ben carried everywhere he went, like he expected to be attacked just for breathing.

There were fangs and claws in the Force around them. Or at least, that’s what Padmé thought it could be. These razor sharp things that they were too raw and wounded to hide or put away. She hadn’t expected to see it from the man sitting across from her, but she didn’t know why.

He’d been bred to have talons and teeth.

Look at the man he’d come from.


End file.
